Earlier this month, Aurora Health Care stepped up to raise funds — just shy of $20,000! — for the purchase of a second life-saving LUCAS automated CPR device for use by the South Milwaukee Fire Department.
It was yet another sign of the strong partnership between the health care system and the South Shore communities that came together to, quite literally, build Trinity Memorial Hospital in Cudahy (now Aurora South Shore).
In researching my remarks, I came across the story of how it happened. It’s fascinating — an example of what people can do when they work together for a singular purpose.
Of note is the leadership South Milwaukee played during the early days.
From a community survey commissioned by the South Milwaukee Lions in 1947, 11 years before the hospital would open, to the creation of a fundraising board by then-South Milwaukee Mayor Charles Plotz and the common council in 1951, our city proudly led the way in making this happen.
Check out the article to learn more … and thank those who came before us to make this happen, 60 years ago this year. Our community is stronger because of it.
Thanks, Barbara Kendall (mom), for the photo.
South Milwaukee Blog 
I was born at Trinity Memorial Hospital back in 1967. I spent quite a few days and nights there as a child. Everything from a dangerously high fever to a concussion, to having my tonsils removed, a cyst removed from my neck, and eye surgery. Back in the 70’s they were always there for me and my family. My Mom who developed emphysema was a patient there for well over three decades. She passed away in December of 1993 finally losing her battle with the disease. There were/are so many memories of this Hospital, some were really good memories and others, not so good. But either way I was born there, they helped me on several occasions, and my Mom as well. I had left Milwaukee for various reasons back in the early 2000’s. Trinity Memorial Hospital isn’t anything like the place that I grew up in. This new idea, or back then this new idea of health care being JUST a business turned decent local small hospitals into the unfeeling conglomerates that their “big brothers” were, and that has really helped to flush Healthcare down the toilet. I get and understand the business aspect of it, however patients are PEOPLE, not chart numbers or how they think, “BILLING NUMBERS”. People require care, empathy, and a willingness to help under any circumstances. Now people worry, fear or are terrified about what may or may not happen if they become seriously ill, and THAT IS WHAT’S WRONG WITH OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. Well that and a plethora of other things.